Ticket-dater.



UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SETI-I F. lIIASKINS, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS.

TICKET-DATER.

SPECIFICATION forming* part of LetterS Patent NO. 692,285, dated February 4, 1902. Application filed .Tune 8,1900. Serial No. 19,322. (No model.)

To all 1072.072?, t may concern.:

Be it known that I, SETE F. HAsKINs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ticket-Daters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention pertains to hand-stamps for dating railway or other tickets, and has for its object to provide a device with which tickets maybe dated at Jthe selling-station in such a way that the date given them cannot be altered by ticket-scalpers. c

Usually railway-tickets are dated by using ordinary type and a ribbon and so manipulated that a blow strikes a very weak impression on the ticket; but this impression can be easily altered by any one. The annoyance and loss to the railway companies is considerable and it is my purpose to obviate this difficulty.

My further object is to provide a ticketdater of novel construction, which Awill be readily understood from the following specification by the aid of the appended drawings, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of one form of my ticket-dater in part section. Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a portion of the same with parts broken away to show construction. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a ball used for making a loose joint within the device. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the stamp on line c fr, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the portion carrying the type, showing a retaining-slide slightly withdrawn from its normal position. Fig. 6 is a perspective View of a type-block, showing points which form the letters and igures. Fig. 7 is a plan view of a series of type removed from the stamp. Fig. S is an elevation, in part section, of a second form of my improved dating-stamp. Fig. 9 is a plan view of the handle, showing a slot for receiving a catch shown in Fig. 8. Fig. l0 is a crosssection of Fig. 8 through line Z Z. Fig. 1l is a bottom view of Fig. 8 much enlarged, but showing the handle and stem therein only.

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of knife-edged type A indicates the handle of the form of stamp shown in Figs. l and 2,into which is screwed at the bottom a threaded pin or stein B, whose lower end is formed with a ball C, slotted at D. E represents a bed having a conical seat for receiving the said ball C. A cap F is bored out to allow the passage of the pin or stem B therethrough. This hangs or rests on the ball and incloses the boss G of the bed. A screw H passes through the cap andboss into the said slot D and serves to hold the bed to the cap and prevents rotation of the parts about the said pin or stem E. The bed has a dovetailed groove in its bottom to receive a type-carrier I, formed to correspond with such dovetail. This carrier is slotted at J and the edges thereof are beveled to receive type of a corresponding form. (Shown in Figs. G and 7.) The station-mark consists -of knife-edged letters on the carrier, as shown in Fig. 12. The dating-type, already referred to, consist of steel points K set in the typeblock. The type-blocks are inserted in the carrier I from beneath, and when the latter is pushed into its place in the body the said type are firmly held in place. I provide a screw L at one end of the body, against which the carrier is pushed. A screw M at the opposite end of the device serves to keep the carrierin place. The head of this screw is filed off at one side, so that when turned so as to bring the flattened surface flush with the plane of the bed the carrier can be readily withdrawn from its seat. By turning the screw slightly the said carrier is held in place. In use the stamp is first inked by means of a common inking-pad and is then brought with some force upon the ticket, which is preferably placed upon a soft pad, by which means the pointed type can perforate the ticket and carry ink into each mark or pin-prick.

The knife-edged type before described are designed to merely make an impression on the ticket, While the dating or pointed type, which are made slightly longer, pass through the ticket. If the former were made to cut through the ticket, the letters would be cut out in all probability. It is intended, there- IOO fore, that they merely carry ink into the depressions Whieh they themselves make.

I am aware thatV heretofore notarial seals and such like devices serve to emboss letters, figures, and other characters on paper, but they employ a pair of dies one of which strikes into the other; but in my improved stamp I use only one of such dies, as described herein.

Railway-tickets are usually made of heavy cardboard, which cannot be impressed by a seal such as I mention above. Therefore a form must be employed that will handle heavy material,and myarrangemcnt has been found to do this perfectly, and especially when used with a thick rubber sheet, which is solid and at the same time permits the pointed type to enter it.

In use the stamp is iirst inked by means of an ordinary inking-pad, as above described, and then brought down upon the ticket, to which the impression is transferred. This cannot be done by the older forms and is new for the reasons explained.

Although knife-edged type and type composed of needle-points are old, they have not been used in conjunction for the purposes described. Neither a seal nor ribbon-stamp cut into the paper, and even if they did were a ribbon used therewith it would be rendered useless in a very short time. An-advantage in my form of type is to so arrange the points that an impression made therefrom upon a ticket cannot be altered as to any letter or figure, for the reason that such points are peculiarly arranged, whereby the insertion of even a single puncture in the paper will be easily detected, since the spacing will be changed if such changes are undertaken. Furthermore, Isoarrange the series of marking-blocks, as I term them hereinafter,.

that they cannot be altered, and thus be mistaken for a figure or letter not intended to be there. By this means it is impossible to change the date on the ticket, as is evident. As shown in Fig. 7 at P, I provide markingvtype at each side of a single date, so that no other figure can be inserted. The ball-andsocket joint permits all the type to bear alike upon the ticket, even though the handle may not be perfectly' vertical. In this way no particular care is necessary in using the device. When usinga wooden handle, I prefer to add weight to it by using a filling-such, for instance, as iron or lead, as indicated at A' in Fig. l. This is held in place and neatly covered by means of a plug A2.

Figs. 8, 9, 10, and ll show a modified form of ythe arrangement, in which I use a hollow handle of metal a, within which is a stem b, with a groove or keyway c. The lower end ofthe latter is provided with a ball, as in the other form and for the same purpose. The upper end is notched at d to receive a catch e, pivoted in a slot f in the upper end of the handle. A collar g is secured to the stem by means of a pin h, Fig. 10, which passes entirely through the collar and stem, but for the purpose of better showing the groove c in said stem is broken off inthe ligure named. A collar t is set into the lower end of the handle, being held therein by means of a screw j or other good means. The handle is prevented from turning on the stem by the use of a pin k passing through the collar into the groove, as indicated in Fig. l1. The collars g and 7l prevent the stem and handle separating. When these parts are locked together by the catch, the stamp is inked, as described, and then brought with sufficient force upon the ticket to cause the same to adhere to it by means of the needle-points of the type. Then by releasing the stem by means of the catch the handle is raised and brought down to give the stem a smart blow sufficient to perforate the ticket in the manner before explained. The contact is made between the end of the stein and the bottom of the recess, and thus operates after the manner of a nail-puller of the common form. I may use either form of the stamp, and in the form shown in Fig. 8 the catch need not necessarily be employed, as it is found that the device can be used without it.

By using the dating portion only of the stamp the return portion of the round-trip ticket may be dated, so that no change can be made any more than in the going portion.

I claiml. In a dating-stamp of the character described, the combination of a bed-plate having adovetailed groove in its surface, a typecarrier adapted to slide into said plate and be retained therein, a series of knife-edged type on the carrier and a series of type for said carrier consisting of removable blocks having points secured therein, such points arranged to form letters and figures so as to perforate the paper in the manner described.

2. In a dating-stamp of the character described comprising a bed-plate, having a dovetailed groove in one of its surfaces, a typecarrier adapted to seat in said plate and be secured therein, knife-edged type made with the carrier and designed to indicate the issuing-station on the ticket, and a series of type consisting of blocks removably attached to the carrier and having a series of points inserted in the blocks to form perforations in the ticket for the purposes set forth and described.

3. In a dating-stamp, the combination of a bed-plate having a dovetailed groove in one of its surfaces,a type-carrier for entering the plate and made in the form of a wedge to correspond with such groove, a series of knifeedged type on the surface of the carrier, a series of type-blocks interchangeably and removably seated in the carrier and having characters inserted in the spaces between the letters or figures, ordinarily left to separate such letters or figures, whereby the intended dates IOO or wording in an :impression made from the the stem all arranged substantially as and stamp cannot be altered. for the purposes set forth. Io

4L. In a. dating-stamp, a hollow handle, a In testimony whereof I ax my signature stem adapted to enter the same, a collar on in presence of two witnesses.

the stem, a collar on the handle for limiting' SETI-I F. HASKINS. the movement of said stem, a notch in the lat- Witnesses: ter, a catch in the handle for engaging the J. H. BLUTCH,

notch and `a, type-carrier on the lower end of C. JOHNSON. 

